Lin Xiao’s expression changed drastically. An intense sensation of deadly crisis surged from his heart, and he hurriedly began to channel the Heavenly Demon Palm within his body.
At this moment, his strongest attack was none other than the Heavenly Demon Palm. Even the Heaven-Devouring Spirit-Gathering Finger would be too slow to execute.
“Whoosh!”
Just then, Lin Xiao suddenly felt a chill like autumn wind sweeping across his back. A book formed from condensed power shot past his side, streaking through the air and carrying boundless autumnal cold as it blasted towards Ji Yue.
“Falling Thousand Autumns!”
For the first time, Ji Yue’s expression shifted. The sword light in her hand slashed out, colliding with the book of power. A tremendous shockwave erupted, and Ji Yue’s body was forced to halt.
The surging waves of energy rolled towards Lin Xiao.
At that instant, a stunningly beautiful figure flashed past Lin Xiao’s side and appeared in front of him. Terrifying fluctuations burst from her body, blocking the oncoming waves completely.
“Falling Thousand Autumns!”
Lin Xiao was shocked.
This proud and breathtaking woman standing before him was none other than one of the top geniuses of the Azure Dragon Sect, Luo Qianqiu, an eighth-level Martial Emperor! Luo Qianqiu had also been drawn here by the commotion and had blocked Ji Yue’s strike for him.
The power of Luo Qianqiu’s attack was equally terrifying. Even Ji Yue had been forced back.
Although Ji Yue’s strike had not been her Ji Shui Style, it was still extraordinary.
Luo Qianqiu’s blow probably wasn’t her ultimate technique either.
At this moment, Lin Xiao secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness Luo Qianqiu had appeared. Otherwise, he would have been in grave danger.
Once the Heavenly Demon Palm was used, all his power would be drained. If he failed to kill Ji Yue in one strike, he wouldn’t be able to quickly summon the Void Heaven Phoenix Wings and escape. He would have been finished.
Given Ji Yue’s strength, the chances of killing her with a single Heavenly Demon Palm seemed slim.
“As expected of Long Tutian’s disciple. Surviving against Ji Yue shows you’re no weakling.”
Luo Qianqiu spoke indifferently, her back still turned to Lin Xiao.
Lin Xiao gave an awkward smile.
He had only survived because he, Jiang Yi, and the purple corpse puppet had attacked together. Alone, he might truly have died in a single blow.
From what Luo Qianqiu said, Lin Xiao could tell she knew something about Ji Yue.
Seeing her calm and detached demeanour, Lin Xiao felt much more reassured.
According to the eight peak masters of the Azure Dragon Sect, Luo Qianqiu was the sect’s number one genius, not just the top beauty among them.
Her strength should be enough to rival Ji Yue.
The foremost genius of the Azure Dragon Sect versus the Ji family’s supreme genius, there shouldn’t be too great a gap. From the look of confidence on Luo Qianqiu’s face, she clearly had a plan.
On the other side, when Luo Qianqiu appeared, Jiang Yi and the eighth-level Martial Emperor elder from the Sacred Heaven Sect, who had been preparing to flee, stopped in their tracks.
Originally, since Ji Yue wanted to kill Lin Xiao, they could have escaped at any time.
But now that Luo Qianqiu was here, they no longer needed to run.
“Luo Qianqiu, your reputation precedes you!”
As the dust and energy waves began to settle, Ji Yue slowly flew out from within them. Her cold eyes fixed on Luo Qianqiu, thick battle intent radiating from her body, icy energy spreading in all directions.
At this point, she completely ignored Lin Xiao.
“Senior Sister Luo, shall we join forces and kill her?”
Lin Xiao cautiously sent a divine sense transmission.
Luo Qianqiu did not reply with divine sense. Instead, she spoke aloud, “We can’t kill her. No point wasting effort. You go.”
Lin Xiao’s face twitched. As expected, even Luo Qianqiu had no confidence in killing Ji Yue together.
“Then you…” Lin Xiao asked with some concern.
“We can’t kill her, but that doesn’t mean she can do anything to me.”
Luo Qianqiu remained utterly indifferent.
“Alright!”
Lin Xiao did not hesitate. He flew off with the purple corpse puppet, then stored the puppet inside his storage ring with one hand.
Afterwards, he took out the Void Heaven Phoenix Wings, inserted several pieces of blue spirit stones, and sped away towards the distant horizon.
To guard against both a sudden attack from Ji Yue and a possible ambush from the two Sacred Heaven Sect members, he had no choice but to spend extra blue spirit stones and take a winding route.
Once Lin Xiao had left, Luo Qianqiu spoke coolly, “You and I probably won’t settle this quickly, and those two are useless anyway. How about we deal with them first before continuing?”
Jiang Yi and the Sacred Heaven Sect elder felt veins pop on their foreheads and immediately turned to flee.
As expected, neither Ji Yue nor Luo Qianqiu were the kind type.
They had thought Luo Qianqiu might team up with them or at least intimidate Ji Yue into retreating.
Or perhaps they could simply watch from the sidelines and possibly profit from the chaos.
None of them expected Luo Qianqiu to suddenly turn her spearhead towards them.
One Ji Yue was already terrifying enough. With Luo Qianqiu added, they were doomed.
“Whoosh!”
“Whoosh!”
Two figures shot after them, terrifying auras sweeping across the sky.
…After flying countless li in circles, Lin Xiao arrived above a region of low hills. He even wondered whether he had flown out of the ancient temple area altogether.
The ancient temple zone had always been flat, yet here there was a large stretch of low mountains, and not a single ancient temple in sight.
Lin Xiao didn’t particularly care.
Along the way, he had already taken a high-grade healing pill. Now, in this area, he found a relatively concealed spot among the hills, released the purple corpse puppet to stand guard, changed to a different mask and a set of brown robes, then began healing with full focus.
This time, his injuries were severe. He needed to recover as quickly as possible.
Two days later, Lin Xiao’s wounds had finally stabilised, and he was no longer in serious danger.
Now, he took out the sarira he had obtained from his storage ring, preparing to refine them.
Someone like Ji Yue was simply too terrifying. If he did not raise his strength quickly, the next encounter might not be so lucky.
This time he had acquired two sarira. Perhaps they could advance his evil power significantly.
“Sizzle!”
The moment he touched a sarira, the Indestructible Skeleton Technique inside his body automatically activated.
This time, however, Lin Xiao forcibly controlled the process, guiding the absorption and refinement of the sarira, directing the surging medicinal energy into the six bone patterns along his spine, steadily perfecting them and strengthening the bones.
Huge waves of energy surged within his body, but he did his best to contain and control them, preventing any leakage that might reveal his position.
Only a faint trace of evil aura seeped from his skin.
His skeleton devoured the sarira like a starving beast. In no time at all, the first sarira was completely consumed.
The power within the six bone patterns had increased.
Lin Xiao then took out the second sarira. This time, he channelled the medicinal energy it released to cultivate the Indestructible Skeleton Technique and begin inscribing the seventh bone pattern.
However, inscribing the next pattern proved extremely difficult. Even one sarira only managed to form the starting point.
Of course, the overall strength of his bone patterns had still risen considerably.
His dantian chaos also received some stimulation and had progressed compared to before.
“It seems I still need more sarira!”
With a sigh, Lin Xiao stood up and stored the purple corpse puppet.
He scanned the surroundings, then cautiously flew towards the direction where the hills gradually rose higher.
After travelling roughly a thousand li, he saw no ancient temples. Instead, the hills grew taller and taller.
Lin Xiao began to suspect he had indeed left the ancient temple region.
Yet not long afterwards, faint golden light flickered in the distance to his side. Lin Xiao immediately flew towards it.
When his vision finally cleared and he saw the scene ahead, Lin Xiao was utterly stunned.
